


Love Shots

by jagseun



Category: GOT7, K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Humor, M/M, Markjin, barista!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-11 00:37:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7017049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jagseun/pseuds/jagseun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jinyoung was the most popular barista at the cafe, his charming personality was a hit with the customers and the staff, everyone loved him.  Everything was perfect until they hired Mark, and suddenly all the attention shifted to him.  What was so special-- oh.  he's really cute.  markjin. barista!au. oneshot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Shots

**Author's Note:**

> thank you @ cher for this prompt.
> 
> i have finally completed the holy trinity of cliché au's. call me the cliché queen. i accept the title proudly.
> 
> disclaimer: i don't drink coffee.

“So you’d like one mocha latte and an iced Americano?”  Jinyoung clarified, shooting the customer one of his trademark smiles as he did so.

“Y-yes!”  The customer replied, flustered.

This wasn’t anything new for Jinyoung.  He took pride in the constant line-up of girls who had more interest in getting a glimpse of him rather than actually buying drinks.  “Can I get your name?”

“Hyojung!”  Jinyoung scribbled her name across the sides of the cups and slid them down the counter.

“Pretty name, for a pretty girl.”  The girl took a moment to descend back down to reality and toddle towards the pick-up counter after such blatant flirting. 

Of course, he did this with everyone, he wasn’t actually flirting.  It was all a marketing scheme.  The manager, Jaebum, noticed how the girls would always stare at him when they ordered coffee so he suggested that maybe he should try to up his customer service.  Sure enough, with a bit of acting the girls were flocking in by the hundreds just to see him.  Business was booming.

None of it was real but he couldn’t help but feel a bit prideful that he was responsible for the café’s success.

Everything was great until one day Jaebum called him into his office and told him something that changed everything.

“I hired a new barista, would you mind training him a bit?  He has experience but only in café’s overseas.”  Jaebum didn’t even turn around to face him as he spoke.  He sat in his office staring at his computer screen as usual.

“A new one?  We don’t need anyone else…” 

“Our business has increased a lot, and you can’t be here all the time.  It was just an executive decision.”

“He may be able to work when I’m not around but can he… bring in customers like I do?  Not to be presumptuous or anything…”  Jinyoung was confused.  He had worked in the café for a while; all the customers and staff loved him, would they want to be served by anyone else?

“I’m sure he will if you train him correctly.” Jaebum finally wheeled his chair around to face him.  “Don’t worry, I’m not replacing you.  He’s just here to… enhance you?  I think both of you together could really make this café the best.”

Jinyoung rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.  “Alright, if you feel this is the right decision.  I’ll see what I can do.”

“Excellent, he’s outside on cash with Youngjae now.  Go work some magic.” 

* * *

When Jinyoung finished tying up his apron and went out to the front he was greeted by droves of customers, girls specifically.  Pressed up against the window, piling through the door, they were all staring at the cashier.  _What the…_

It must’ve been the new guy; his back was facing him so all he could see was his pushed back bright blonde hair and his slender build.

“I’m sorry,” His voice was low but he had the highest pitched giggle Jinyoung had ever heard.  “Could you repeat that?”

“One sweet potato latte!”  The customer repeated, giggling along with the barista.

“Ah, that’s interesting.  We don’t have that drink in America, Youngjae, can you make this one?”

Youngjae popped up from behind the counter where he was grabbing some milk and took the cup from Mark, starting the latte.  “No problem.”

Jinyoung walked up behind Youngjae and poked him in the side, startling him and causing him to almost drop the cup of milk he was holding.  “What’s going on, why is it so busy?”

“It’s the new guy; He’s attracting so many people!  He’s amazing!”  Youngjae whispered back to Jinyoung excitedly.

Jinyoung huffed.  What could be so special about this guy?  He didn’t even know how to make a sweet potato latte and was so slow taking orders but he—

Then the new barista turned around and Jinyoung saw his face.

 _Damn_ , he was attractive.

Jinyoung didn’t consider himself bad-looking at all, but standing next to this guy he felt like a potato.

“Oh, hey, are you Jinyoung?”  The man asked him.

Jinyoung could only nod in response, all the words gone from his throat.

“I’m Mark Tuan, the new barista.  I believe the manager told me you were supposed to train me?”  Mark reached out his hand for Jinyoung to shake.

Jinyoung reached out slowly to shake his hand.  This guy was a living god, his hair was beautiful, and his cheekbones were beautiful, even his forehead was beautiful.

Jinyoung decided he hated him.

* * *

“Here’s your latte!”  Youngjae said with a cute smile, the girl on the receiving end blushing and hurrying away with her drink.  “What’s was wrong with her?”  Youngjae asked Jinyoung.

“It’s just because you’re cute.  I’m sure you bring in a lot of these customers too.”  Jinyoung was wiping the counter down while he was having Mark make drinks for him in a test.

“I’m not… cute.”  Youngjae replied shyly.

Jinyoung reached out to squeeze his cheek a bit and Youngjae whined.  “You’re very cute.”  He noticed Jaebum trying to sneak out from his office behind him and decided to yell at him.  “Hey, Jaebum!”

Jaebum halted in his tracks and turned around, eyes settling on Youngjae.  “I was just- uh- getting some extra straws from the store?  We’re out.”

Jinyoung didn’t really care why Jaebum was leaving; he didn’t have to authority to tell him anything anyways.  He just thought it was fun to embarrass him for revenge from time to time.  “Jaebum!  Do you think Youngjae is cute?”  He yelled clear across the café.

Youngjae immediately turned to Jinyoung, a look of betrayal on his reddening face.

Jaebum was flustered so he just sent them thumbs up before speed walking out of the café to avoid further conversation.  Jinyoung smiled.  “See, Jaebum thinks you’re cute.  Are you happy now?”

Youngjae just pouted and pushed Jinyoung off of him.  “Why are you so embarrassing?”

“It’s because you’re cute, and your crush is cute, and I want you two to be cute together.”  Jinyoung said, prodding Youngjae again as he tried to shake him off.

“Okay, one sweet potato latte!”  Mark interjected, holding his finished drink out to Jinyoung proudly.

Jinyoung inspected it carefully before grabbing the cup and taking a sip.  “Hmm, not bad for your first sweet potato latte.”  Jinyoung handed the cup back to him and Mark started drinking the rest.  Jinyoung decided to ignore the fact that he had no problem sharing the cup with him.

“Who knew sweet potatoes in latte form could be this good?”  Mark said as he finished his own drink.  “You learn something new every day.”

Jinyoung scoffed, still bitter about the fact that he had to train Mark.  No matter how many annoyed glances and discontent sighs he sent his way it seemed like Mark was always in a good mood.  His smile was really hard to resist as well.

“Alright, guys!  Look alive, school is just about over!  Get ready for the afternoon rush!”  Jinyoung called out as he and Mark took their spots on cash.

Sure enough, school girls started piling through the door, pointing at the cashiers and whispering to each other.

Jaebum had expected him to teach Mark how to act and flirt a bit with customers, but he learned very quickly that he didn’t need to.  Mark was naturally attractive, and his personality was adorable.  He took his time with customers and even though he didn’t talk too much it was obvious he cast an unspoken spell on everyone he served.

Well, almost everyone.

At some point, a salary man walked in with a long list of all sorts of drinks he needed to order.  He just kept listing them off in fluent Korean and Mark was struggling to keep up, piling cups up rapidly at his side.  It wasn’t a surprise when the drinks reached the pickup table and some things were wrong.  Jinyoung was the one to serve him the drinks, so as soon as he realized something was off all of his anger was directed towards him.

“I asked for an extra small!  This is a small!”  The man said, dumping the cup into the garbage next to him.

“I’m really sorry sir, we can remake it.”  It was part of his duty not to get angry, but he was teetering on the edge.  It’s not like he could complain, the mistake was on their side.

“Also, I asked for this caramel latte to be iced!  Why is it not iced?”

“I’m really sorry sir, we can remake it.”  Jinyoung elbowed Youngjae to get started on remaking the drinks.  Mark was still handling the line-up at cash but he could feel his apologetic stare on him.

Eventually, the man got refunded for the orders that were wrong and took the new drinks for free.  Jinyoung walked back over to his spot on cash next to Mark who was purposely avoiding his gaze.

“Hey, Mark.”  Jinyoung said when the line-up had finally died down.

“Y-yes?” 

“Your shift is over.  Next time, be more careful with the orders.”  He didn’t mean for it to come out as sternly as it did.  Accidents happen, and he could hardly blame a foreigner for making such small mistakes, but before he could say anything else Mark walked off.  That was the only time he had ever seen Mark without a smile on his face.

* * *

The next morning when he came in for work Youngjae directed him to a table in the back room.  Sitting on the table was a caramel latte with a heart drawn on top with milk, and a piece of paper with writing.

_‘Sorry about yesterday – Mark’_

It was a cute gesture.  The heart was a nice touch.  He wasn’t even that angry to begin with but now he felt even more apologetic, maybe Mark wasn’t out to ruin his life.

He noticed how perfect the heart of the latte was, much nicer than any heart he could make.

Jinyoung decided he still didn’t like him that much.

* * *

“Mark,” Jinyoung said and Mark jumped.  They haven’t spoken much all day so the air still tense between them.  “Can you stay past closing today?  We need to do some extra cleaning.”

He could’ve asked Youngjae, but he always had a hard time asking him to do extra work for him.  He was just too cute.  Mark seemed to have the same sentiments as he agreed to stay with no qualms.

So here they were, almost midnight, scrubbing the floor of the dining area.

“Thanks again.  Jaebum seemed very sure there’s going to be a sanitary inspection tomorrow, so he wants everything to be super clean.”  Jinyoung decided to break the silence between them.

“It’s not a problem. Where’s Jaebum?  Shouldn’t he be helping?”  Mark replied.

Jinyoung snorted.  “Jaebum said he needed to home and feed his cat or something, he doesn’t do this kind of work anyways.”

“Oh.”  Mark replied.  Things fell silent between them again.

“Thanks for the caramel latte this morning, it was a nice gesture.”  Jinyoung said as he scrubbed at a particularly stubborn piece of dirt.

“It’s not a problem, I’m just really sorry about yesterday, and I wasn’t sure how to tell you because you seemed so upset.”

“I’m sorry if I snapped at you, I really wasn’t that angry.  We all make mistakes, and I know it’s especially difficult for you.”  Mark waddled over still crouched down over to Jinyoung.

“So does this mean I’m completely forgiven?”   He nudged his face closer to Jinyoung and smiled cutely at him.  “Hmmm?  Hmmmmmm?”

Jinyoung broke out into giggles at his cute teasing.  “Yes! Of course, I wasn’t even that upset.”  Jinyoung turned around to face him not realizing how close Mark’s face was to his.  From this angle, he could see exactly how attractive he was.  “Uhh…”

“Sorry!”  Mark backed away and stood up.  It was a good thing he did that when he did, Jinyoung was having problems breathing properly with him that close. 

_Wait, why does he have that effect on me?  It’s not like I…_

“Jinyoung?  Earth to Jinyoung!”  Jinyoung snapped out of his thoughts and stood up. 

“Huh?  What?”

“We’re friends now, right?”  Mark asked sincerely, holding out his hand clad in a yellow cleaning glove to shake.

Jinyoung held out his gloved hand as well so that they could shake.  “Yes, we’re friends.”

Mark shot him a smile showcasing his perfect teeth and Jinyoung could’ve sworn he felt his heart skip a beat.  “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

 Mark turned to leave but Jinyoung called out to him. “Wait, one more thing!” 

“Huh?  What?”

“I prefer vanilla latte’s over caramel ones.”

* * *

“Yugyeom.”

No response.

“Kim Yugyeom.”

Still, no response.

Jinyoung marched over to the boy lazily wiping down a table and pulled the earphone out of his ear.  “KIM. YU. GYEOM.”

That got his attention, he was startled but when he saw it was Jinyoung he just sighed and rolled his eyes.  “What?”

“Firstly, your only job here is to clean, you could at least do a better job of it.  If Jaebum knew the amount of work you actually did, he would fire you claiming you’re wasted resources.”

“I’m doing my best; maybe if you paid me more I’d work a little harder.” 

Jinyoung laughed sadistically.  “Nice try, but I’m not even in charge of that.  You can ask Jaebum, but I doubt he’s going to pity you.”

“Fine, anything else you want to bug me about today?”  Yugyeom was reaching back to put his earphone back in his ear.

“Yes actually,” He pointed over to a table in the corner where a young man was sitting watching videos on his laptop.  “Could you do everyone a favour and tell your boyfriend to _leave_?  He’s been loitering here for the past two hours.”

“He’s just waiting for my shift to be over so we can hang out.”

“Your shift doesn’t end for another hour!  Why does he have to sit here for three hours?” 

“That’s when his class ends!  He doesn’t want to go home when he can meet me here.”

Jinyoung groaned.  “Look!  There he goes again!  He’s doing that thing!  Does he have muscle spasms or something?  He’s scaring the customers.”

“Wow, it’s not a muscle spasm, he’s _dabbing_.  It’s a dance.  I wouldn’t expect you to know anyways, old man.”

“ _Old man_?  I’m barely older than you.”

“Yeah, but you act like you’re _fifty_.”

There was seriously no winning with this kid.  “I give up, I’m leaving.  I’m obviously too uncool to reason with you kids these days.”

“Hey!  Do you want to learn how to be cool?  You should talk to the new guy, Mark!  He’s so cool!  He rides a skateboard, and he speaks English and everything!  He’s from _Los Angeles_ , can you believe it?”

Jinyoung huffed.  “Mark isn’t cooler than I am, he just has different charms.”

Yugyeom just laughed.  “Hey, Mark!”  He yelled.  “Do you think Jinyoung is cool?”

Mark signaled for them to wait a minute before he walked over, drink in hand.  “Jinyoung is cool.”  He said as he handed Jinyoung the drink.

“What?  Mark, how could you think Jinyoung is cool?!”  Yugyeom whined.

“Well, he’s amazing at making drinks, super charming with customers, he’s incredible at solving problems, and he’s very handsome.  I think all of that is pretty cool.”  Mark said honestly and Yugyeom just eyed him suspiciously.

Jinyoung wasn’t sure if he should be flattered or embarrassed. He hadn’t realized Mark had observed him that much or that he thought all of those things about him.  “Um, thanks, also, what’s this?”

“It’s a vanilla latte, you said you liked those, right?  I even put in an extra shot of vanilla for you.”  Mark said, flashing his million dollar smile.

“You’re entitled to one free drink, are you sure you want to use it on me?”  Jinyoung questioned, still a little shifty on Mark’s motives.

“It’s fine, I owe you since I picked the wrong drink last time.”

Jinyoung stared down at the drink; there was another heart drawn on the top.  This time, there were tiny wings etched into the side as well.  “Also, I have to pay for the vanilla shot.  That’s not included in your free drink.”

Mark waved him off.  “Don’t worry it’s on me.  Consider it a… _love shot_.”  Mark shot a finger gun at him to complete his pun while giggling.  Jinyoung saw the regret on his face a second later as he suddenly said he needed to get back to cash, despite the fact there were no customers waiting.

“Oh my god… was he flirting with you?”  Yugyeom said as soon as Mark left.

“What?  No.  He definitely wasn’t.  Absolutely certain he wasn’t.  One hundred percent sur—“

“Alright!  I get it, not flirting.  Just two guys making coffee for each other with hearts in them.  Definitely not flirting.”  Yugyeom mocked and Jinyoung had to resist the urge to dump his latte on his lap.

Was that flirting? 

Did he want that to be flirting?

Jinyoung downed his drink and blamed the warm sensations all over his body on the steaming hot latte.

* * *

“Wow!  Hey, cutie, could I get your number?  I like you a _latte_.”  Mark froze at the cashier, unsure how to respond to the man before him.

“Umm, sorry, I can’t give you that.  Did you want something to drink instead?”

“Why not cutie?  I was just trying to _espresso_ my feelings.” 

“Jackson, leave him alone.”  Jinyoung finished up the drink he was making and handed it off to Youngjae before coming up to the counter.

“Hey!  Jinyoung!  Good to see you’re just as uptight as usual.”  Jackson gave him a smile and Jinyoung smiled back with the same amount of sickening sweetness.  “Who’s the new guy?”

“Jackson, this is Mark, Jaebum hired him recently.  Mark, this is Jackson, he used to work here but he quit on us.”

“Hey!  Why are you making me sound like a traitor?  You know I had to leave to achieve my dreams of becoming a _celebrity_.”

Mark looked questioningly at Jinyoung so he decided to clarify.  “He recently hit some sort of fame as an internet sensation.  Basically, he makes stupid videos of himself and posts them on the internet and somehow manages to turn a profit.”

“It’s a very respectable job field; I’d invite you to star in one of my videos any day cutie.  What do you say?”  Mark looked uncomfortable so Jinyoung spoke on his behalf.

“You’re making him feel awkward, order a drink or leave.”

“Fine, can I get an iced green tea latte?  Hold the sugar; you’re already sweet enough as is.”  Jackson threw Mark a wink and Jinyoung groaned.

“Jackson!!!”  Youngjae yelled from behind the bar where he was starting Jackson’s drink.

“Youngjae!!!  It’s been a while since I’ve seen you!”

“I know!  I just watched your latest video last night, hilarious!  I can’t believe you became a star without us.”

Jackson brushed a hand through his slicked back hair.  “What can I say?  This just all happened to work out.”

“Have you met Mark yet?  He’s really cool!  He can speak fluent English just like you.”  Youngjae said excitedly.

“Oh really?”  Jackson automatically switched to English.  “You can speak English, Mark?”

Mark suddenly looked excited to speak in his native tongue.  “Yes!  It’s really weird to be speaking it after so long.  I think I’m just going to forget someday.”  Mark and Jackson laughed together about their conversation and Jinyoung decided they were being way too buddy-buddy.

“No!  Stop!”  Jinyoung said in English, surprising Mark and Jackson.

“Jinyoung, can you speak English too?”  Mark asked, genuinely curious.

Jinyoung laughed nervously. “Just… little.”  He gestured with his hand to show a small amount.

Mark giggled and Jinyoung was embarrassed.  “Your English is cute; your accent isn’t that bad either.  If you want to learn more maybe I can teach you?”  Mark cocked his head to the side and Jinyoung felt his cheeks flush.

“Sure, man.”  He said smoothly in English.  He thought it was cool but Mark just laughed at him again, he was unsure what was so funny.

Jackson, tired of trying to converse with Mark, moved on to his next target.  “Is the whole gang still working here?  I want to say hi!”  He turned to Youngjae.  “Is your boyfriend here?”

“B-boyfriend?”  Youngjae shrieked.

“Boyfriend?”  A familiar voice said, while putting a hand on Youngjae’s shoulder.

“Ah!”  Youngjae jumped as soon as he saw Jaebum directly behind him, spilling Jackson’s drink down his body.

“Oh my god!”  Everyone suddenly panicked; Jaebum was the first one to grab some towel sitting on the counter and try to wipe him off.

“Youngjae!  Are you alright?”  Jinyoung exclaimed.

“It’s okay!  It was mostly just cold milk... it’s… fine… uh…”  Youngjae suddenly flushed beet red and he looked like he wanted to scream.

Jinyoung figured out what was happening.  “Jaebum,” Jaebum was furiously wiping the towel down Youngjae’s body to get rid of all the liquid.  The only problem being this meant Jaebum was stroking his hand roughly down Youngjae’s stomach, past his lower section, and down both legs. “I think Youngjae is fine, could you not… um… rub him like that?”

Jaebum slowed down his drying and unlatched himself from Youngjae as soon as he realized what he was doing, completely embarrassed himself.  “Sorry!  I didn’t mean to… I just didn’t want you to be wet… and uh…”

Jinyoung sighed and took the towel from Jaebum, both him and Youngjae immobilized by love.  “Don’t rub him so vigorously, see look, you should just dab it.”

“Did someone say dab?!”

“YUGYEOM, TELL YOUR BOYFRIEND TO _LEAVE_!”

* * *

“What is _that_?”  Jinyoung asked as he stood in the office behind the shop, gesturing at the carrier below him.

“That’s my cat, Nora.”  Jaebum said cooly.

“May I ask why you brought your cat to work?”

“She has an appointment at the vet later today and I wanted to head there right after, so I just brought her.  It’s not a big deal, she mostly just sits around and does nothing all day anyways.”

“Reminds me of someone else I know.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“Hey, Jinyoung, you in here?  We ran out of straws out front, we have a case back here… what is…”  Youngjae walked into the backroom and stopped dead in his tracks.  He suddenly started wheezing.

“Youngjae?  Youngjae?!  Are you okay?”  Jinyoung ran over to him and put a hand on his back.  “Youngjae?  Can you breathe?!”

“I, my tougff, I canf…!!”  Youngjae started wheezing louder and Jaebum jumped into action.

“Youngjae?!  Oh god, Youngjae!!  He’s having an allergic reaction… shit, is it Nora? Shit!  Why was I so careless...? I had no idea—“

“Jaebum now’s not the time to rant, do something!”  Jinyoung was panicking but Jaebum looked even more worried.

“I’m going to drive him to the hospital!  Watch the shop!”  With that Jaebum grabbed Youngjae and ran with him half in his arms out to the parking lot, leaving a shook Jinyoung behind.

Jinyoung walked back out to the front uncomfortably.

“Jinyoung!  Where were you, and where’s Youngjae?  Some lady wants to use this coupon but I’m pretty sure it’s two years old and… Jinyoung?”

“Jaebum brought his cat, Youngjae had an allergic reaction, Jaebum is driving him to the hospital, don’t know when they’re coming back, just you and me for the rest of the night.”  Jinyoung deadpanned.  “That’s all I’m going to say, just… I’m sure everything is going to be fine.”

* * *

Everything was fine until sometime in the afternoon an entire school bus full of children came in.  All the children piled into the café, there was barely enough room for all of them, and a lady, he assumed was the teacher, ordered 36 small hot chocolates.

On a normal day, this would have been annoying but doable.  With just him and Mark in the store, it would be even more annoying, but doable.  On a day where only him and Mark were in the store and Jaebum had filled out inventory incorrectly so they were low on hot chocolate, it was impossible.

“So, how many hot chocolates could we make with this do you suppose?”  Jinyoung asked, but he already knew the answer wasn’t going to please him.

Mark eyed the almost empty box.  “Maybe… four?”

Jinyoung walked to the corner and crouched down, ready to accept his faith.  “This is a nightmare; we can’t just turn them down!  They’re already piled in here… I can’t… I think I’m going to pass out.”

Mark jogged over and crouched down beside him.  “Hey, stop that.  Don’t worry!  We can figure this out; I can run to the store and buy some more hot chocolate.  They won’t even know the difference, trust me.”   Mark ran a hand down Jinyoung’s back to comfort him.

“That’s going to take time, they want hot chocolate _now_.”

“I’ll run as fast as I can, we have to make it work.  You just need to… entertain them for a bit?  Yugyeom told me you’re good with kids, I’m sure you can handle it.”

Jinyoung scoffed.  He was okay with one kid maybe; he loved his nieces and nephews.  How was he going to entertain 36 kids at once?  “I don’t know…”

“We can’t waste any more time!  I’m going to run now, get out there and do something Jinyoungie!  I believe in you!”  With that, Mark wasted no time running out the back entrance, on his mission to get hot chocolate.

Jinyoung took a deep breath to calm himself down before re-entering the front, 36 displeased eyes on him when they realized he didn’t have any hot chocolate.

The kids looked young enough; he suddenly came up with a plan.  He was going to have to throw away any sort of dignity he had to make it work, but he decided that this was an emergency and worth it.

“So… do you guys like Pororo?”

* * *

Jinyoung was half-way through his fourth time singing the Pororo theme song with crazy dance moves thrown in when Mark arrived.  The kids were all having fun watching him make a fool of himself, but he was thrilled when Mark suddenly yelled ‘hot chocolate time!!’ from behind him.

They all excitedly got up and automatically formed a line-up at the counter and Mark started handing each one of them a hot chocolate, cutely chastising each one of them to say ‘thank you’ after he gave it to them.

Jinyoung went behind the counter and started helping out. 

“Hey, Jinyoungie, nice dance moves you got there.  Your singing voice is pretty good as well.”  Mark teased.

“How long were you standing there listening?!”  Jinyoung asked, mortified.

“Well, I made some hot chocolates in advance before I signaled you to stop.  You were really cute; you could probably be a daycare teacher if you really wanted to.”

“I’m fine thanks, I’ll continue with the barista life for the time being. “  Mark finally handed out the last hot chocolate and turned to the last person in line, the teacher.

“I’ll have a coffee, black, please.” 

Mark and Jinyoung exchanged looks and smiled at each other.

* * *

The store finally closed at eleven at night and Jinyoung slumped himself in Jaebum’s vacant chair while dialing his number for the umpteenth time to no response. 

“Jinyoungie, you in here?”  Mark knocked on the office door

“Why did you suddenly start adding an ‘ie’ to the end of my name?” 

“It makes it sound cuter, and you’re cute so it suits you.”  Mark was so obviously flirting now Jinyoung had just decided to accept it.

He had tried really hard to convince himself he didn’t like Mark but it was clear that he was fighting a losing battle the whole time.  There wasn’t any way to dislike someone as cute as Mark.

“I disagree, but I appreciate the sentiment.”  Jinyoung got up and walked towards Mark, his face only a few centimetres away.

“I disagree, you’re very cute.”  Mark countered.

“I disagree; you’re the cute one here.”  They both smiled as their faces got closer.

“So, you finally admit that I’m cute?”

Jinyoung didn’t even respond.  He just leaned in to close the space between their lips—

“Meow!”

The both jumped back from each other before anything happened.

 “Oh no…”  Jinyoung walked looked back behind him and sure enough, Nora was still sitting on the floor in her carrier.  “Oh no!  Nora I’m sorry!”  He immediately leaned down and looked into the carrier, she seemed well enough. He was sure she slept most of the day, but nobody had fed her and Jaebum wasn’t picking up his phone…

“Jaebum’s cat, I’m assuming?”  Mark said, leaning down with Jinyoung to observe the annoyed feline.

“I forgot about her… Jaebum is going to kill me.”

“Relax, if he cared enough he would’ve picked up your calls.  I’m sure she’s going to be fine.”  Mark picked up the carrier and waved at the cat.  Nora just stared at him scathingly.  “I can take her home if you want… cats can eat dog food, right?”

Jinyoung took a look at how angry Nora was and decided to save Mark.  “I’ll take her home; one night is not a big deal.”  He hoped she could eat through the grate at the front of the carrier, he was scared to see what would happen if he let her loose.

“Alright, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then, Jinyoungie?”

“Right.”  With that Mark left, leaving Jinyoung alone with the cat.

He held up the carrier to his face and glared in at Nora.  “You do realize you ruined everything, don’t you?”

Nora just licked herself and settled back down to take another nap.

* * *

“Here’s your cat, asshole.” 

“Nora!!”  Jaebum ran up and took Nora out of her carrier, snuggling her in his arms.  “Your dad missed you a lot, did you miss me?  Did this bad man hurt you?”

“Did _I_ hurt her?  Look at my arms!  Look at these scratches!  You’re lucky I didn’t need to go to the hospital, or else you’d be sitting in a pile of bills right now.”

“Good girl Nora!  Such a good girl!”  Jaebum snuggled her with his nose and Jinyoung groaned.

“What the hell happened to you?  You were missing in action all night!  A text would have been nice, and where’s Youngjae?”

“I gave Youngjae the day off to recover from the trauma that was yesterday.  When we got to the hospital they just gave him a shot and he was back to normal after about an hour, it was really scary, though.”  Jaebum explained.

“Wait, he was okay after an _hour_?  What did you do all night?”

“Well, Youngjae was pretty sure he was going to die so at some point during the car ride he confessed that he really liked me a lot, and I was scared this was the end too so I admitted I liked him a lot as well.”  Jaebum stopped as Jinyoung muttered a _finally_ under his breath.  “After an hour when everything was alright and nobody was dead it was kind of awkward… but eventually we went out for ice cream then I went back to his house and we kissed for the rest of the night.  I’m sorry I forgot about Nora…”

“It’s fine, I’m happy with this.  I just can’t believe it took a near death experience for you two to confess.  I’m surprised Youngjae still wanted you after you almost killed him twice.” 

“It was an accident both times!” 

“Sure, okay.  Just be thankful Youngjae is the type of person who would apologize to a fly after killing it.”

Jaebum gave him an exasperated look.  “How about you and Mark?”

Jinyoung glared at Nora.  “Is it that obvious?”

“Mark has been openly flirting with you all month, there’s no way you don’t know.”

“Jinyoungie!  Are you back there?”  Mark called out from the front.  “Come out!”

Jinyoung gave Jaebum a knowing look as he put Nora back in her carrier and walked outside with him.

The café was relatively quiet for once; nobody was in there except for staff and Yugyeom’s boyfriend.

“Here.”  Mark shoved a drink into Jinyoung’s arms.  “I made this for you.”

“A vanilla latte?”

“One vanilla latte, extra foam, with two love shots of vanilla.”  Mark smiled as he handed it to him, proud of himself.

“You don’t need to keep giving me free drinks.”  There wasn’t any heart on it today; instead, his cup was piled to the brim with foam.  _Strange._

Mark just waited patiently for Jinyoung to start drinking. 

Jinyoung tipped the cup towards his mouth and soon realized that practically half the latte was just foam, so he kept tipping it until finally the liquid reached his mouth.  When he put his cup back down his lips were covered in foam so he tried to quickly wipe it off with his sleeve, but Mark caught his arm before he could.  “What are you do—“

Mark silenced him with his lips, wiping the foam away as they kissed.  A chorus of ‘ew’s sounded from around them but neither of them cared.

When Mark finally pulled away he gave him that trademark toothy grin that made his heart beat out of his chest. “I’ve always wanted to try that.”

Jinyoung just smiled back and pulled him in for another kiss, once again ignoring all the people groaning around them.

Jinyoung decided he was ready to take a shot at love.


End file.
